Get the latest news & insights

New tool to help boost building sustainability

Oct. 3, 2017

The European Commission has launched the pilot phase of a new tool designed to help boost sustainability in the building sector.

Level(s) aims to establish a common language around what sustainable building means in practice — shifting the debate beyond energy performance, reports The Construction Index. The tool is the result of a broad consultation with industry and the public sector and focuses on performance indicators across areas such as greenhouse gas emissions, resource and water efficiency as well as health and comfort.

Collaborators in the development have included Skanska, Saint-Gobain, Sustainable Building Alliance and green building councils.

“Level(s) can help us develop an environment built sustainably across Europe and support our transition to the circular economy” said Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for environment, maritime affairs and fisheries. “We are releasing this framework for the sector during World Green Building Week demonstrating Europe’s global leadership. It marks an important step toward a more resource-efficient and competitive construction sector in Europe.”

James Drinkwater, director of the World Green Building Council's Europe Regional Network, said the advent of the tool is a clear signal to the market that sustainable building practice is shifting from niche to norm.

“Having a common goal to deliver nearly zero-energy buildings across Europe galvanized industry-wide action, and now having a common language around ‘sustainable’ building helps us begin to really transform mainstream practice,” he said.

Level(s) is described as the first tool of its kind that has been developed for use across all of Europe. The test phase is being launched and will run until 2019.

All building projects are invited to learn more about it and pilot the new tool. The European Commission said that it will provide technical assistance to those applying all or parts of Level(s).

Two technical guidance reports have been released to support the pilot phase. The first provides an introduction to Level(s) and how it works. The second provides detailed guidance on how to make performance assessments using Level(s).

THESE COMPANIES GENEROUSLY SUPPORT THE PGB MISSION; PROVIDE ABUNDANT, NO-COST, AND OBJECTIVE INFORMATION CONCERNING THE STRATEGIES, SYSTEMS, AND PRODUCTS OF HIGH PERFORMANCE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS AND MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENCES